1976 vinyl album Gro Ka Modên

Box set clamshell cover art of the legendary 1976 vinyl album Gro Ka Modên by the prominent Guadeloupian guitarist and composer Gérard Lockel.

Album Details & Context

• Artist: Gérard Lockel, a pioneering musician and activist from Guadeloupe who dedicated his career to transforming and theorizing traditional gwoka music.
• Release: Issued in 1976 under the label Guadeloupe Disques.
• Musical Style: The album is highly celebrated among collectors as a "holy grail" of Caribbean music, famously blending traditional Guadeloupian Gwo Ka drumming and rhythms with Free Jazz and avant-garde jazz structures.
• The Logo: The bold, black central graphic represents Lockel’s stylized emblem for Gwo-Ka Modènn (Modern Gwo Ka), an artistic and political movement he established to formalize and elevate Guadeloupe's musical heritage.

Poem/Lyrics on the Cover

The text on the right side of the cover is written in Antillean Creole and serves as a powerful decolonial and liberation statement:
YO TIRÉ TAN NOU (They took our drums)
YO BAN NOU TA YO (They gave us theirs)
YO EXPLOITÉ NOU (They exploited us)
NOU KA TIRÉ TA YO (We are throwing away theirs)
NOU KA PRAN TAN NOU (We are taking back our drums / our time)
NOU KA LIBÉRÉ NOU (We are liberating ourselves)

Before

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